By Gaurav Macwan

The art of being successful in a job interview lies in the two key things i.e. is being prepared and anticipating the interview environment. A job interview is a personality test that covers several facets of your life such as academic background, professional achievements, technical prowess and soft skills. However, despite having all the right qualities and qualifications, many candidates are unable to crack job interviews due to poor preparation. Preparing for a job interview involves doing research on the company, understanding the job profile and understanding how you fit in with the company and the role.

Let’s dive deep and understand each of these three aspects in detail:

Prepare Yourself

When getting started for the interview process it is good to re-assess and understand yourself. This will help you to be prepared and confident for any questions that may crop up during the interview process.

Reviewing your resume (CV): Try to go through your resume or CV and understand it in detail. You should form questions that interviewers can ask you about your Resume and the details mentioned in it.

Strength v Weakness Analysis: You will definitely receive questions about your strengths and weaknesses. They might be in a different format or style, so think about what are you good and why should the company hire you.

Academic & Professional Achievements: You will definitely be asked questions about your academic and professional achievements. So be ready for them.

Job Suitability: Interviewers will also try to understand why you suited for their company and the job profile on offer are. So be ready to answer queries on those lines as well.

Know the Company

Knowing a bit about the company that you are going to join after a job interview also goes a long way in helping you get the job. Here’s how you can get all the important information about the company for your upcoming job interview:

Go to the company website: This is the easiest way to learn about the company. Try to understand who is who in the company, the product and services they provide and their market position.

Google the Company: This will help you understand what others are saying about the company, its reputation and potential pitfalls. This will also help you prepare for questions to ask about the company.

Evaluate Financial Health: If the company is a public company go through their financial / shareholder report. This report offers a wealth of information regarding the company and their strategy, financial position, market position and industry outlook.

Peer Review: Speak with friends, colleagues and family that may have worked in the company or work in the industry. This will provide you with a wealth of inside information about the company and the industry.

Research the industry: Hand in hand with company research should go research about the industry. The interviewer may ask many questions or use terms related to industry. You would want to be prepared.

Understanding the Job Profile

The final step in your job interview preparation understands the Job Profile and how it fits with you:

Understand the Job Profile: Understand the job profile and what skills are required. The assessment of the skills required should be technical skills, education and experience, managerial and personal traits.

Resume Check: Look at your resume and identify all the areas where you have a good fit with the job profile. Check the areas where you have exceeded the requirements as this may be a positive or a negative depending on the role.

Know the Differences: Understand the areas where there are differences between the job profile and your background. Work on how to reduce the differentials. Focus on projects, extra-curricular activities, social work, community activities and training that will help you reduce this gap.

Evaluate your Core Skills: The final nail in the coffin when it comes to cracking a job interview depends upon your core skills which are primary to the job you are trying to get. Try to look at the core skills from an interviewer’s perspective and prepare yourself to present your skills well. Unless you highlight your skills and showcase your compatibility with the job profile, you will not get the job.

Preparing for your job interview in this three phased manner will help you to cover all the three basic types of questions you would face on the D-day and prepare the answers accordingly. If you feel that we have missed out on any important aspect related to job interview preparation tips, please let us know through your comments below. If you liked this video, please like and share it with your friends and fellow job hunters.

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